


In Liberty

by Queen of the Castle (queen_of_the_castle_77)



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Drama, F/M, Implied Torture, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 02:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_of_the_castle_77/pseuds/Queen%20of%20the%20Castle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re a bit late,” Rose says.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Liberty

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Implied torture.

“You’re a bit late,” Rose says. “I thought you were a _Time Lord_. What, did your internal clock break?”

She hates that the words she intends to be flippant come out instead as a laboured croak born of too much screaming and too little hydration; she wants more than anything to downplay her ordeal, but it seems her body isn’t quite up to complying. 

Thankfully, the Doctor seems regardless to sense what she so acutely desires.

“Late? Me? And here I thought you’d want enough time to see the local sights,” he teases, though it’s blatantly forced. She can’t help but notice that his expression is clearly worried beneath the tight smile.

“Oh, yeah,” she says, “turns out the prison was really somethin’ to behold. Just as well it took you a few weeks to rescue me so I could properly savour the experience.” 

She sees the flicker of remorse that he hadn’t managed to come for her sooner, but he doesn’t actually voice it. She’s glad. She thinks that if the word ‘sorry’ breached his lips right now she might just collapse under the weight of it.

He holds a finger to his lips to signal quiet as they approach the entrance, then he carefully smuggles them both out past the last set of guards. When they finally clear the front door, the solid stone roof of the medieval gaol gives way to open sky. It’s the first time in nearly a month that she’s breathed in a burst of fresh air.

She’d thought she’d been happy to see _him_ , but _this_... She’ll never take her liberty for granted again.

She laughs almost violently and tries to ignore how the residual pain in her ribs sharply increases. She’s too focused on other things to pay her weakness heed. The starlight above becomes a kaleidoscope before her eyes as she spins, her arms outstretched; a whirling dervish praising the freedom of the night. The Doctor firmly catches her when her giddiness overwhelms her. 

She breathes in the welcome smell of leather and sighs. Even still standing a little too close for comfort to the exterior of the place she’d been imprisoned, in the circle of his arms she discovers a place she finally feels completely safe. She doesn’t break down and cry against his shoulder with the relief of it, but she knows that he wouldn’t judge her if she did, and that’s more than enough to _truly_ free her. She savours it, and him.

She knows she never wants to be trapped and alone like that ever again in her life, but at least it appears that one good thing has come of it.

Now she also knows precisely how she _does_ want to spend the rest of her life.

~FIN~


End file.
